


Imago

by Tarlan



Category: Eureka
Genre: Fluff and Humor, M/M, Trope Bingo Round 4, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-08
Updated: 2015-04-08
Packaged: 2018-03-21 21:41:56
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3705569
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Tarlan/pseuds/Tarlan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Another accident with one of Taggart's dragonfly experiments has Jack in a flap - literally.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Imago

"Anax junius, the green darner," Taggart stated softly with an awe that instantly put Jack on his guard.

Six of these so-called dragonflies were flying around the cafeteria, which wouldn't be too much of a problem if they'd been normal but these ones were five times the size of the average dragonfly, with wing spans a foot across. He ducked as one skimmed over his head, desperately trying to resist the temptation to swat it. It was beautiful yet monstrous, with a green-blue almost-iridescent body and four wings with veins that looked like the kind of ornate lead glass windows seen in churches and fancy houses, and yet they looked so delicate too.

This was not what he expected to see when he was called into Global Dynamics to help with a 'small' problem.

Taggart threw some device over to him, and when he turned it on a giant, force-field butterfly net appeared.

"Be careful not to damage their wings. They can tear easily. And don't let it bite you."

"These things bite?"

"Their natural prey is smaller winged insects... though they will take a bite out of something larger too."

"Oh, that's just fantastic," he stated sarcastically.

Someone screamed and he saw a woman duck as one of the dragonflies 'buzzed' her, its feet catching in her hair. Jack ran to her, slapping away the creature and helping her reach the safety of the corridor. Several others were still hiding under tables and Jack looked longingly at a serving of maraschino cherry cheesecake that someone had abandoned untouched. Vincent must have sent up the cheesecake because it was identical to the piece he'd been forced to abandon after a single taste-bud orgasmic bite when the call came in.

Sometimes he really hated this town.

He snared the first of the giant dragonflies, struggling against the strength of the gigantic creature as he headed straight to the large makeshift enclosure Taggart had set up in the cafeteria. He released it inside immediately. As there was no actual net it didn't look harmed in any way and flew off towards the far corner. In the meantime, Taggart had caught another, and eventually, after several embarrassing misses and falls, and a banged elbow that was throbbing, there was just the one left, but it was hovering close to the high ceiling just out of reach. Jack cursed under his breath and waited as he and Taggart circled below it.

"Is there a reason why we couldn't have used a stun gun or bug zapper?"

Taggart looked horrified. "They're very delicate, mate!"

"Yeah, and so am I," he replied, rubbing his elbow.

Eventually it darted downwards, its flight unpredictable because of the four wings that moved independently, but Jack saw his chance. Using a chair as a step to climb up onto the table, he swung the net but missed as the dragonfly darted out of reach once more.

"At least it's not giant bees this time," he grumbled under his breath because those had been pretty scary, with stingers as thick as his index finger.

It darted back suddenly.

"OW! It bit me!"

This time when he swung the net he caught it, eyes widening in shock when the large insect continued to beat its wings, pulling him off balance, and he fell, his hip catching the side of the table as he crashed to the tiled floor. Fortunately, he somehow kept a tight grip on the net device and Taggart grabbed at it before the insect could get away, dragging the creature to the enclosure.

Jack was sitting up by the time he returned, and Jack really wished he could wipe the grin off the zoologist's face because this was all Taggart's fault... again. He put his hand down to get some leverage to stand up and felt his fingers squelch through something soft and creamy. Pulling his hand up in disgust, he groaned in dismay when he saw the cherry cheesecake coating his fingers.

"Hell, why not?" he murmured and stuck one finger in his mouth, his groan turning to a moan of delight.

"Sitting down on the job again, Carter? Perhaps you'd like a donut too?"

"Stark," he uttered disdainfully, "Why do you and your scientists have to ruin every half-decent moment of my life?"

Stark smirked, obviously pleased with the response he gained from Jack, but then Stark lived for making his life a misery. He'd been even worse since the time loop incident, stepping out of the chamber looking shaken, and canceling the wedding to Allison indefinitely. Except indefinite became definite, and Nathan and Allison had stopped seeing each other romantically. The field had been left wide open for Jack to make his move on Allison but he hadn't lost his memories of those time loops, and one in particular where Allison had shot him down. Not that it mattered as his crush on Allison had fizzled out around the same time, though he still hadn't figured out why, and he was not going to confide in any shrink to find an answer.

Jack was surprised when Stark offered him a hand up. He ignored the little demon voice on his shoulder that told him to reach out with the cheesecake covered hand, and regretted it instantly when pain shot through the damaged elbow. Jack was certain he saw a hint of concern before Stark's usual mask descended and moments later he was up on his feet when both Stark and Taggart pulled him to his feet more carefully. He gasped again as his weight settled onto his legs, feeling the deep ache in his hip where it had hit the table.

"Get him to the infirmary," Stark ordered one of the security personnel who'd finally stepped forward to assist. "Taggart, clear up this mess."

None of his injuries were serious, fortunately, just deep bruising. The bite had barely broken skin, mostly catching the cuff of his uniform sleeve but it stung like a bitch when Allison cleaned it out. She pressed one of those weird hypos against his neck without warning.

"An experimental treatment that should heal those bruises faster." She handed him two heavy duty painkillers. "Take those just before you go to bed. They'll help you sleep." Her expression softened. "And take the rest of the day off, Jack. Go home. Take a hot shower, and get some rest."

Jack murmured his thanks and left, letting Jo know he was heading straight to the bunker and his comfortable bed.

***

The alarm sounded partway through the night, blaring through the bedroom, and he swatted at the blue light encasing him, too groggy from the painkillers to do more.

"SARAH!"

"Bio-contamination detected."

"SARAH, it's me!" He rolled onto his back and cried out at the discomfort between his shoulder blades. "What the...?"

Rolling out of bed onto unsteady feet, he swatted at the blue light that followed him downstairs to the bathroom. He reached around as something tickled his back, wriggling this way and that as he tried to see over his shoulder until he recalled SARAH could give him a second mirrored surface. The mirror shimmered on and Jack gasped in shock at the protuberances on his back that looked just like...

"SARAH, get me Taggart! NOW!"

An hour later, Jack was back at Global Dynamics in Taggart's laboratory, stripped naked to the waist while Taggart and Allison examined his back. Stark stood several feet away in front of him, with hands clasped lightly in front, silent and - if Jack was reading the signs right - very, very pissed at being dragged from his bed in the middle of the night. His gaze flicked between Jack and Taggart, softening slightly on Jack but hardening as soon as his attention returned to Taggart.

"It must have been the bite," Taggart stated, voice quivering with excitement, and completely oblivious to the dark looks thrown at his back by Stark. "It's a hemimetabolous metamorphosis as if from nymph to imago."

"Imago?"

"Final stage of metamorphosis," Allison answered, which wasn't really an answer at all as far as Jack was concerned, although the word ' _final_ ' at least gave him some hope he wasn't going to turn into the Jack Carter version of _The Fly_. He winced in remembrance of Jeff Goldblum slowly losing his nails, teeth, and his humanity.

"I'm never watching that movie again," he murmured, gaining an inquisitive, raised eyebrow from Stark.

Jack lowered his face without answering the unspoken question, biting back on a smile because he knew how much Stark hated being left in the dark. Instead he endured the touching and probing, surprised to feel the touch of hands on a part of his body that hadn't existed before yesterday. The skin and muscle at the base of his... his wings were sensitive. Yes, wings. Four wings to be precise. Unsurprisingly like a dragonfly considering yesterday's fiasco.

In the past hour they had pumped up until they were almost the same length of his body, lying flat and away from his torso. If it weren't for the fact that he really shouldn't have wings, then he might have looked at them as things of beauty rather than horror. They had the same veined appearance as the gigantic dragonflies from yesterday, though the veins were a pale pink, consisting of mostly plasma from his blood with a few red cells according to Allison and Taggart. Not that he needed to know that.

"Adult hormone levels likely triggered the imago metamorphosis," Taggart added.

Curiosity finally overcame anger and Stark stepped forward, hand hovering above the edge of one wing before his eyes cut to Jack as if asking permission. It was a weird thought because Nathan wasn't usually so considerate with him. With a sigh, Jack nodded and felt the strangest sensation when Nathan's hand brushed over the surface. He shivered, and the wing moved, catching everyone by surprise - including Jack.

"I thought these might be vestigial but these are... fascinating," Nathan murmured.

"Vesti...jewel?" Jack asked.

"Vestigial. Having no function." Nathan sighed heavily when Jack continued to look at him blankly. "I didn't think they'd work."

"Can you fly? Move another one," Taggart demanded.

"How?"

"Just concentrate, Sheriff," Nathan stated softly, stepping back slightly.

Jack squeezed his eyes shut and focused inward, eyes widening when he felt all four wings shift, drawing him slightly backwards and up off the stool. He felt Nathan's hand grab hold of his forearm, stabilizing him as Jack gripped back tightly.

"Whoa!"

"That answers that question."

Nathan was likely referring to the question of him being able to fly because it sure felt like he was airborne for a moment.

"This is all..." Great? Fascinating? Exciting? Interesting? "...Different, but how do I get back to normal?"

Taggart looked stunned, as if he couldn't understand why Jack wouldn't want to keep the wings forever.

"I can't exactly do my _job_ like... like this," he pointed his thumb over his shoulder towards the wings.

Plus he'd never be allowed to leave Eureka, or more likely he'd end up locked away in some other shady Government facility for the rest of his life being experimented on, like Area 51. They'd make up some tragic story of his death and he'd never see Zoe or Nathan again, or Henry and Allis... Nathan? He blinked because his second thought after Zoe should not have been his former arch-rival and current nemesis.

"He's right," Nathan said quietly, and that was weird too because he thought Nathan would happily find any excuse to have him locked up far away from Eureka and Global Dynamics. "As much as he annoys me, the town likes having Carter as their sheriff. Must be for the entertainment value," Nathan added with a smirk.

"Except the gene therapy and growth hormone used to create my Anax junius giganticus should not have affected human DNA." Taggart stared intently at Jack like he was one of his laboratory experiments. "Have you been near any radioactive sources in the past twenty-four hours?"

"Radioactive?"

"Or fallen into any vats of strange chemicals?"

"You mean like Spiderman?"

Nathan rolled his eyes at both of them.

"Oh no," Allison murmured.

"Allison?" Nathan moved closer to her.

"I gave him a shot of Doctor Julio's experimental healing treatment. For the bruising," she added. "It uses cell DNA regeneration techniques, but if it picked up residual DNA from Taggart's dragonfly bite..."

"Then it might have spliced that into his DNA," Nathan finished, looking at Jack in concern. He looked away, sighing heavily. "Taggart, start working with Doctor Julio on a retrovirus to undo this. Bring in anyone else you need from bio-engineering and medical."

"In the meantime..." Allison withdrew a large needle and several vials to take more blood samples, and Jack moaned.

"I'm about to become a human pin cushion, aren't I?"

****

If Taggart's insects had been damsel flies then he might have been able to move about a little easier as they folded their wings back along the length of their abdomens. Instead, Jack was stuck with wings spreading out several feet sideways, making it difficult to navigate corridors and doorways. Surprisingly, Nathan stayed with him, though likely for the entertainment value as he'd implied earlier.

He knew there was more of Global beneath the surface than on top but it still surprised him how often he came across huge laboratories as tall as houses and at least a few hundred feet across. While Taggart and the biologists were working on a 'cure', the engineers were fascinated by the mechanics of flight so Nathan had let them lose on him.

Jack had to admit it was pretty cool being able to fly, and not just in one direction. The wings were like a dragonflies in all ways, capable of independent movement to make him highly maneuverable. He could go up, down, sideways, back and forward with just a thought, and if he let it happen without conscious thought, he found he could hover and accelerate without tiring so quickly. He dive-bombed Nathan, pulling up at the last second just to annoy him but rather than anger, Nathan seemed to find it amusing.

As embarrassing disasters went, this was definitely one of the better ones, though he hoped he wouldn't be stuck with wings forever. He really did value his freedom after all. Eventually he tired, and as the engineers had gained enough useful data to get them eagerly moving back to their laboratories and drawing boards, Jack settled back on the ground next to Nathan.

Flying was exhausting and he eagerly accepted the food tray Nathan had ordered from the cafeteria, pleasantly surprised when Nathan rolled out a high tech picnic blanket. He sank down, finding it surprisingly comfortable compared to the hard floor, quietly pleased when Nathan brought over another tray and sat down with him.

"There were dragonflies darting around at the last picnic I had... with Zoe. I never expected to become one of them."

Jack rubbed his naked chest feeling a little too cool now he'd stopped moving. He glanced up and caught Nathan staring at his hand and chest almost hungrily. Nathan's face changed quickly to its usual droll, blank expression, his green-blue eyes giving nothing away and almost making Jack doubt he'd seen any difference. Except that look had ignited a hunger inside him, making him hyper aware of Nathan seated so close to him. It was as if he was looking at Nathan for the very first time, seeing behind the mask of indifference. His subconscious was telling him this was nothing new, that the desire for Nathan was always there, lurking in the background, deliberately pushed down under layers of denial.

"Really," Nathan replied drolly, but Jack could see the flicker of growing interest in his eyes, seeing them dilate slowly.

Jack rubbed at his chest again but this time he turned the movement into a caress, watching Nathan's eyes follow the path of his fingers hungrily as they slid across a nipple. His body reacted to both Nathan and the stimuli, and he squirmed to ease the constriction of his pants as his cock thickened and lengthened.

"Jack?"

As he leaned in, intending to kiss Nathan, Nathan drew back. Filled with sudden shame and disappointment, wondering how he could have got this so very wrong, Jack made to stand and walk away but Nathan reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No. Wait."

He picked up his tablet while Jack looked on in confusion - until he heard the snick of the laboratory lock engaging. Nathan dropped the tablet and this time when he reached for Jack, he drew him into a heated kiss. Nathan ran his hands down the sides of Jack's rib cage to his waist then back up, curling up and around his back and he pulled Jack closer still, so close to the sensitive skin where the buds of his wings merged with his body. They vibrated as Nathan's mouth slid from his, across his jaw line to nuzzle into his throat, and he threw his head back to allow greater access. He could feel the rougher material of Nathan's clothing against his skin, scraping over taut nipples but as good as it felt he wanted to feel bare skin on skin.

He pushed Nathan back and alternated between trying to shove the suit jacket from Nathan's broad shoulders and fumbling with his tie and the shirt buttons. Nathan grabbed his hands and stilled them before drawing back a fraction more and tugging off his tie and jacket. He slapped at Jack's fingers when Jack reached for the shirt once more, smoothly unbuttoning it and casting that aside too. It took only a moment for Jack to shove down the pair of sweats he was wearing, arching forward as Nathan latched onto a nipple and began to tease it mercilessly. Jack's hand found its way to Nathan's head, fingers sliding through soft dark curls and tightening his hold, pushing him down, needing to feel that clever mouth wrapped around his cock. Nathan barely resisted, his beard tickling oversensitive skin as he kissed his way down Jack's abdomen.

Jack groaned loudly when Nathan lapped from the base before sucking on the tip, slowly swallowing him deeper with each gentle bob of his head, uncaring of Jack's hand almost clamped to his head. With one hand wrapped around the base of Jack's cock, the other gripped his ass, kneading the strong muscle, his tongue and mouth driving Jack crazy until he couldn't hold back any longer.

"Nath... Need... Can't..."

Yet his hand wouldn't ease its tight grip and he came hard into Nathan's mouth, seeing stars and galaxies as the world seemed to darken around him, mind and body lost in the intensity of his climax. He didn't resist as Nathan manhandled him onto his front, the feel of lips and tongue gliding over sensitive wing membrane almost too much on top of all the rest. The shock of penetration pulled him back but the pain was fleeting, lost amid the new sensations driving him higher again. It was too soon, his body shouldn't be able to... and in the distance he heard a keening wail that almost sounded like his own voice as he climaxed again.

Shattered, it took a while for the buzzing sound echoing around him to clear into the sound of his name being called in a worried tone.

"Jack? Jack?"

"Here."

He raised a hand momentarily before letting it drop back against the man holding him in a seated position, chest to chest. Nathan. Jack dropped his head against Nathan's shoulder and breathed in his scent.

"You okay?"

"Yeah. Just... Too much."

"We need to clean up before someone comes back," Nathan murmured but made no move.

Eventually Jack groaned and pulled away, looking hard at Nathan.

"I'm sorry... for holding you down so-."

"Probably dragonfly instinctive behavior. The male clamps hold of the female's head during mating."

Jack couldn't hold back a smirk. "So that must make you the girl in this," Jack teased, unable to resist.

"Oh, I think we both shared that role," he teased back, one hand stroking down over Jack's ass and making him aware of the dull ache below that would no doubt feel sharper once he started to move. "Come on," Nathan ordered, standing up with a groan before holding out a hand to Jack. The slightest beat of wings had Jack on his feet with a little more grace than Nathan.

Moments after they had cleaned up and dressed, Nathan released the door lock, and Jack had to laugh when Taggart and Fargo tumbled through the suddenly open door landing in a heap of tangled limbs on the floor. Allison barely spared them a glance as she edged round the pair, glaring hard between Nathan and Jack though Jack could see it was out of concern more than anger.

"Nathan?"

"Carter needed some privacy," Nathan shrugged nonchalantly, as if he couldn't understand all the concern, and her laser focus went straight to him.

In the past he might have enjoyed a look from her that cataloged every inch of his body, pretending it wasn't with just a professional eye but now, all he wanted was for Nathan to look at him that way.

"You look... exhausted."

Panicked, in case she could tell he'd just had the best sex of his life with her ex-husband, Jack glanced quickly to Nathan. 

"Too much flying," Nathan stated.

She didn't look convinced but nodded anyway, casting a hard glance at Nathan before turning back to Jack.

"We should have the retrovirus ready in an hour."

****

Jack moaned as the shower water pummeled his shoulders and back at the perfect temperature and force. The wings were gone, having shrivelled up and fallen off once the retrovirus restored his DNA back to pure human. He could still feel the nubs left behind, itching between his shoulder blades but Taggart assured him that even these bumps would be gone by morning. He twisted, trying to reach a particularly itching place but stopped and groaned in relief when a warm hand scraped blunt fingernails over the exact spot.

"Oh yeah. Don't stop."

Nathan moved in closer still to Jack, plastering up against his back as he nuzzled the side of Jack's neck. Turning in his arms, Jack raised his chin and Nathan obliged with a kiss but it was sloppy rather than heated. He sighed, lowering his head against Nathan's shoulder.

"This was a weird day even by Eureka standards," he murmured tiredly, leaning a little more of his weight on Nathan as the relaxing spray beat down on his shoulders.

"I guess it's not every day you get turned into a human dragonfly."

"And have the best sex of my life," Jack added without thinking.

"Really? The best?"

Jack swatted at him, rolling his eyes. "Not had that many partners so don't let your ego swell so big it can't fit in the bedroom."

"Talking of which... SARAH, shower off."

Nathan stepped away from Jack as warm air circulated through the bathroom, drying them both quickly before Jack reached out and took Nathan's hand. He was smiling wide as he led Nathan up the stairs to his bedroom for the first time, and hopefully, not for the last time either.

END  
.


End file.
